Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an eco-friendly infill for artificial turf and a method of preparing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to an eco-friendly infill for artificial turf, which is formed by mixing polyethylene (PE) and styrene ethylene butadiene styrene (SEBS) with an eco-friendly natural material composed of bark powder (bark powder of coniferous trees such as pine trees and Korean pine trees), cinnamon powder (bark powder of trees of Lauraceae, such as cinnamon or cassia), and lacquer powder (or the sap of a lacquer tree, which is also simply called lacquer) and by performing extrusion molding with the resulting mixture to produce the eco-friendly infill, whereby the eco-friendly infill has rainwater purification, insect repellent, and antimicrobial properties and is harmless to health, and the present invention also relates to a method of preparing the eco-friendly infill.
Description of the Related Art
In baseball fields or soccer fields, the fields are usually covered by natural grass to prevent the generation of dust. However, natural grass is expensive and difficult to manage. For this reason, recently artificial turf that has a natural grass texture and can be used for a long period of time has been increasingly used.
Generally, artificial turf is a synthetic turf system including a grass layer made of a plurality of pile-fibers and an infill composed of particles or chips and provided between the pile-fibers. Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) chips or ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber chips are widely used as the infill.
However, since waste tire (rubber) chips have a black color, they can absorb sunlight well to raise the temperature of the playing field, thereby deteriorating the environment for athletic play. Moreover, in summer when the temperature usually exceeds 30° C., the following problems occur: a bad smell occurs; the rubber chips are melted by geothermal heat, thereby becoming sticky and agglomerating; toxic gases are released; and low water content and large frictional heat of the rubber chips cause a risk of abrasion or burning when users or athletes slip, slide, or fall down.
Particularly, when the waste tire (rubber) chips are used for a long period of time, dust particles are generated and toxic substances such as heavy metals are released into the air. In addition, the dusts stick to shoes or clothes of the athletes playing on the artificial turf, thereby negatively affecting athlete health.
In order to solve the problems with the use of the waste tire (rubber) chips as an artificial turf infill, elastic polymers prepared through cross-linking of SEBS or EPDM rubber are widely used. However, since these elastic polymers also contain hazardous chemicals, these also cause various problems such as odor and unique smells of chemicals during long-term use or in the hot summer months.